Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Little Eve by Catriona Ward

28 reviews

akevaa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Good and creepy. Excellent for the one time, but I think once you know how it all unravels a re-read isn't really in the cards (at least not for me). This is generally how I feel about Ward's works; Looking Glass Sound being an exception where re-reading is an excellent idea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: War, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Suicide

wyabook234's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pregnancy

erinbarr13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Animal death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

korikam's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Child death, Body horror, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Mental illness, Confinement, and Suicide

bookish_af's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, and War

Moderate: Pedophilia, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Kidnapping

lizreaderhold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Torture, Abortion, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Confinement, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

laura_et's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Child death

Moderate: Incest and Sexual assault

racl's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Sundial again, but on the ocean this time!
Culty, unhealthy family dynamics, beautiful writing, I enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Drug use, Blood, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Pregnancy, War, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Rape, and Toxic relationship

charlottesreadingweb's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Having read both Needless Street and Sundial, I would say this is the best Catriona Ward book I have read. What it lacks in plot complexity, it makes up for in reflection on what it means to "be the villain" and how the pain of women & children is often unrecognized or ignored. I found myself heart broken repeatedly throughout this book. I found the ending poignant and beautiful. Fans of Needless Street may find this book underwhelming when comparing it's twists and turns, but I think it is a good option for gothic horror fans looking for a book that will pull at your heart strings. Please check content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Confinement, Child death, Self harm, Murder, Miscarriage, and Incest

Moderate: War, Rape, and Pregnancy

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Honestly, I really didn’t like this book. It had the same excellent writing and dark atmosphere of Ward’s other novels but was lacking in every other element for me. 

The characters were all unlikeable and prevented me from connecting with any of them.  The story is told from two timelines, one in the past before the massacre on the island, and the other after from the perspective of the sole survivor. It’s written in first person for both perspectives but this did not help connect with the character, it just made things more tedious in my opinion. 

Along with unlikeable characters the pacing was far too slow and this book was a total slog to get through. I had to force myself to read this because most of the time nothing was happening but more abusive cult bullshit with no real purpose. Trigger warnings for rape, drugs, torture, starvation, child abuse, sexual assault, pedophilia, and violence by the way because no trigger warnings are given and this whole book is focused on this mini cult where all these abuses occur.   It was so tedious to pick this up and have another chapter about abuse but it’s ok because it’s for Adder, like I GET IT, they’re in a cult on this island for some reason. 

I know there’s a plot in this book I just honestly can’t find it. The twist was also just confusing, there were so many questions, all of them left unanswered. The narrator is a huge part of the twist and it lies in her changing her mindset and leaving the brainwashing but it was unbelievable how it happened. She just woke up on day and decided to not believe in it anymore, after being raised and manipulated and abused her entire childhood she just one day stands up and says “nah”. 

Overall, I would skip this earlier novel by Ward which was recently re-released on the states and read her newer works instead that have engaging characters, better pacing, and a clear plot line that doesn’t get muddled up in abuse and cult nonsense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexism, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Classism, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Drug abuse, and Pregnancy